I personally believe I fall into "n (Level 2)". I recently completed a degree in Software Engineering, and despite programming for a long time before that I would have ranked myself at "n2 (Level 1)". The degree pretty much brought me and everyone up to scratch with "n (Level 2)" in terms of knowledge. Having actually tried to work with some of my classmates - who also achieved first class degrees (some with higher grades than me despite little prior programming experience) - they're mostly terrible programmers.
As far as I'm concerned, this table is purely for working out a programmer's education, not competency. Experience and passion are the only ways I chose to judge my colleagues.
As far as I'm concerned, this table is purely for working out a programmer's education, not competency. Experience and passion are the only ways I chose to judge my colleagues.